(The following is a nonprofit work of fanfiction and is outside of the original canon. All names, characters, businesses, places, events, and/or incidents of any kind depicted within this story are being used for entertainment purposes only.)

(The Loud House and all related characters were created by Chris Savino and all rights belong to Nickelodeon.)


- Chapter Twenty-Three -

The Return to Gus'

Later that day…

Through the car ride over into town, I couldn't contain the level of excitement I had in wanting to show our aunt, uncle, and cousins the treat that they were in for.

They're so gonna love it!

After we had finally rolled up and parked against the curb out in front of Gus' Games & Grub—with Mom and Dad leading the way, of course—we all climbed outside from Vanzilla and moved closely over to the front of the arcade/pizzeria, along with Uncle Lance and the rest following suit after us. I could already smell the tomato sauce and garlic that was waiting for us right inside. Grandpa looked up at the giant sign and smiled through his beard, clearly delighted to be here as I was.

"Trust me, you guys will be very glad you came," I said to Uncle Lance and Aunt Sharon. "Here at Gus', they've got the most tubular pizzas you'll ever enjoy."

"And they also have the best garlic knots too." Grandpa added.

Like always, at the very second that we pulled the front double doors wide open, my family and I were greeted by the near overpowering smell of roasted garlic and tomato sauce that immediately went straight into our nostrils. That alone made me oh-so-very happy. I glanced over to look at Shiloh and Shelby who were already licking their lips with hunger. Shane took an even bigger whiff, becoming even more entranced by the intoxicating smell, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

Aunt Sharon and Uncle Lance, however, were certainly not ready for it.

"Hoo-wee!" Uncle Lance said, fanning the air in front of his face. "That is a lot of garlic!"

"I'll say it is! Woo!" Aunt Sharon added. But these simple complaints were nothing but mere footnotes when compared to what they saw next.

The two of them—including Shane, Shelby, and Shiloh—were met with quite a wonderful site. They spotted many rows of classic arcade machines which were lined up against the walls and sometimes in the center of that specific large area. From the overall background, we could hear Huey Lewis & the News' I Want a New Drug just starting to play. Shiloh and Shelby gaped very wide-eyed, faces glowing in amazement. I couldn't help but smile, knowing I had been down that same road myself.

I looked around at the floor, and I noticed minor bits of red, white, and blue confetti glittered around near the booths, and a small number of nearly deflated balloons were spotted here and there. Seeing this, I quickly drew the conclusion that they must have had a kid's birthday party earlier before we came. Most parties were around later close to the evening, but I reckon this one must have been one of those special exceptions. I looked back at Shelby and Shiloh, their eyes still wide as dinner plates.

"This place..." Shelby muttered in total wonder, trying to clear her glasses to get a better look at her surroundings. "I... I really had no idea it even existed. It's like we just walked right into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory..."

"It's like we've all just died and gone straight to Heaven..." Shiloh mumbled, a smile growing on his face before letting out a surprised gasp. "Is that Donkey Kong I spy over there?"

"Wow... Just wow," Shane nearly stammered. "Makes me wish we had something this totally killer back home."

"It kind of reminds me of Chuck E. Cheese's." Uncle Lance commented.

"Well, it undoubtedly has that classic pizzeria look to it." Aunt Sharon admitted, sounding very much impressed and liking a lot of what she was seeing.

"I'm certainly glad you find it to your likings, luv!" Luna agreed in a fake British accent.

"Hey, Rita. Why don't you, Sharon, and the kids find yourselves a table or two?" Grandpa asked her, as he wrapped his arms around Dad and Uncle Lance. "My boys and I will order us up something good."

"Make it a New York-style thin crust!" Lana called out as the three walked over to the front counter.

"And don't make it a supreme either!" Lola added, her little face wrinkled in disgust. "Seriously, nobody likes mushrooms and onions!"

"Uh, I do!" Lana countered her twin sister's words, looking offended. The little pageant queen crossed her arms.

"I guess that makes you the odd one out in this case." she stated. Grandpa chuckled good-naturedly.

"We'll see what we can do, kiddos!" he said as he and Dad and Uncle Lance twisted back around to face the front counter and gaze up at the menu above them. Fun fact: I wasn't that much of a huge fan of supreme pizza either. But I certainly didn't hate it like Lola did. It just wasn't exactly my favorite, that's all. I mostly preferred to have my pizza with more of the classic toppings. Nothing over the top like the supreme.

"Hey, Lynn," I addressed my sister who was about to help Mom find somewhere to sit. "You wanna play some arcade games with Shiloh and Shelby and I while we wait for our pizza?"

"Nah, I don't really feel like it right now." she answered, brushing my offer away as if it were nothing important. My brows knitted together at this. But then a big mischievous-looking smile appeared on my face as an idea popped into my head.

"What is this?" I said, pretending to be totally shocked. "Am I hearing this correctly? Is the great 'Lynn-sanity' herself turning down the golden opportunity of competing and winning against her own brother at arcade games? Are you turning down an offered challenge?" Like clockwork, our female jock for a sister froze momentarily in the spot before slowly turning her entire self around to look me straight in the eyes.

"What did you just say to me?" Lynn asked me in a low tone of voice, her eyes becoming cold as ice. Lynn might have known what got under my skin. But you know what? I knew precisely what got under her skin as well. And I'd known my sister well enough to understand there was no way that she would pass up a challenge. Reverse psychology at its best.

At least I didn't call her a chicken, I remarked in my head. And I already have enough problems myself with that.

"On second thought, I change my mind!" Lynn proclaimed before moving aside and then making a hasty dash over to Punch-Out!'s location with me, Shelby, and Shiloh hot on her heels. "Come on and show me what you got, Stinkoln!" I smiled knowing what was going to happen next. Playing a boxing-themed arcade game was vastly different than boxing in the real world. Too bad she was about to find out the hard way.

You're in my domain now, sis... I thought, feeling like an evil genius as Autograph's Turn Up the Radio played next in the background.


For the next fifteen minutes, we played to our hearts content, going from one awesome arcade game to the next, be they Donkey Kong, Mario Bros, Frogger, Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Double Dragon, Tron, Galaga, you name it. Although Shelby appeared to have a bit of serious trouble as she was in the middle of playing OutRun.

And that trouble came in the form of our dear cousin having a terrible sense of direction, being unable to figure out the difference between her left and right. This flaw had caused her pixilated racing vehicle on the screen to collide with whatever obstacle that came her way, much to her chagrin. Luckily, I was there to lend a helping hand and have her make it to the fifth level before the timer ran out. Despite mostly relying on my help, she was still pretty happy and enjoyed herself.

I drifted my gaze over and spotted Lynn, and I noticed that she was having some level of difficulty herself with Space Invaders. I could tell because her face was starting to turn red with anger and frustration. I grinned very deviously. My sister may have considered herself an unbeatable athlete within the realm of sports and other physical activities, but when it boiled down to playing arcade games—or just gaming in general—I was the reigning champion in that department.

However, the one and only game that Lynn and I were always closely matched on was a good old-fashioned game of Skee-Ball. Despite having struggled a bit at first, I managed to come out on top. Unfortunately, it was in this moment which I somehow forgot just how extremely competitive my female jock for a sister always was. Before she was about to demand that she and I go for what I could easily guess was another round, Dad's voice called out to us.

"Kids! The pizza's here!" And just like that, Lynn and I immediately turned around and headed right back over to the dining area with Shelby and Shiloh following after us, our competitive little game of Skee-Ball finally at an end. And thank goodness too because I was running out of quarters. After we came over to the long table—which was pretty much just five tables moved around to make one—where the rest of our family were seated around, the four of us were met with a wonderful sight.

Four extra-large pizzas rested on top of each table in warm pans, fresh right out of the oven and all in that classic New York-style thin crust, each one having been cut into sixteen slices. One was just a classic pepperoni with extra cheese, the second had Italian sausage and black olives, the third was a Hawaiian style with ham slices and bits of pineapple, and the fourth was a supreme style pizza, much to my unsurprise and disappointment.

Well, at least now I know what to avoid, I thought as I took my seat next to Luna and Lola. Lola did not look the least bit unhappy because I noticed that she had her own personal-sized pizza with loads of cheese and nothing else. It honestly wouldn't kill her to try new things for once. Placed in front of us, we each had tall red plastic cups which were filled with ice and nearly to the top with Pepsi—They were the kind of cups which resembled the ones you'd find at a local Pizza Hut.

On each end, there were about three little plastic baskets with napkins, each one filled with roughly fifteen pieces of fresh oven-baked garlic knots slathered in garlic sauce and shredded parmesan cheese and oregano. Just as we were all about to fill our plates and dig in, we heard the ever-so-familiar "Ahem!" fill our ears, forcing us to stop and look over to see our mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and grandpa. All four of them gazed at us with that same unforgettably stern-looking expression they would make whenever we were foolish enough to forget about the most important thing to do before eating.

"Seriously, how many times do we have to remind you kids about this?" Mom questioned; arms crossed over her chest.

"You three know the rules too." Aunt Sharon said, addressing Shane, Shelby, and Shiloh.

"Yes, ma'am." the trio collectively replied in obedience with not a single argument. Same as always, we all felt really sheepish as we bowed our heads and folded our hands. After Grandpa had finished his prayer with a resounding "Amen", after having thanked God that he, Uncle Lance, Aunt Sharon and our cousins could come over here in town safely and asked the food to be blessed as well as the hands who made them, we took our plates and filled them with as much food as we could grab.

Shane was the first to take a bite of his own slice and he became smitten just like that.

"Oh man! This pizza is just absotively killer!" he proclaimed happily before shoving the rest down his piehole. "Hmm! I feel like I've missed a huge chunk of my life or something!"

"Shane, don't talk with your mouth full!" Uncle Lance chastised our eldest cousin. Feeling embarrassed, Shane swallowed his food down hard, and he made chuckled nervously.

"Hey, do you guys want to hear a really funny pizza joke?" Luan piped up suddenly, smiling big and revealing her braces-laden smile. All of his quickly told her no, falsely predicting what we initially thought she was going to say next. Luan simply shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, that's fine... It was gonna be too cheesy anyway. Hahaha! Get it?" Everybody around the table groaned irritably. Dad slapped the palm of his hand on his forehead while Uncle Lance just sighed and shook his head.

"Yes, Luan. We get it." Lori grumbled, shooting our plucky comedian for a sister a dirty look.

"We knew what was going to happen, yet still we fell for it." I heard Mom utter unhappily. And after that, the passage of time became of no concern to the rest of us as we were all far too busy enjoying both the food and each other's company.

We cleared that entire long table until there were only four slices of pizza left. Not one trace of the garlic knots was found, nothing but garlic sauce and bits of shredded parmesan cheese. I relaxed the top half of my spine carefully up against my chair, feeling like my stomach was about to blow at any second. The rest of the family had done the same thing as well, relaxing and patting their full bellies in utter satisfaction.

"Now that was some good eaten," Grandpa uttered before turning his face over to the front counter. "Thanks a lot for the grub, Gus! Another job well done!" Gus Gamesngrub, the owner of the arcade/pizzeria, and also the place's original namesake as well, stood behind the front counter, smiling with tremendous pride behind his long black moustache.

"Glad I can be of service, Loud! You guys will always be my favorite customers!" he proclaimed, giving us all a proud thumbs up and then he disappeared off into the kitchen in the back. Right after that, my family and I went straight into the traditional act of conversing with one another, exchanging stories and the like, fun stories which we loved to tell, and also not-so-fun ones we wished we could forget about because of how embarrassing they were.

When I was asked if I had seen any movies recently, I hesitated for a moment. As embarrassing as it was for me to talk about, I managed to muster up the courage to tell them about when my friends and I made the not-so-fortunate choice in going to go see Jaws: The Revenge.

"How was it?" Shiloh asked curiously. He quickly got the hint of what I thought when I responded by making a miserably unhappy expression, and silently shaking my head.

"Wow. It was really that bad, huh?" my cousin asked, disappointment seasoning his voice. "And here I was hoping it would be at least better than Jaws 3-D."

"Trust me, you're far better off watching Spaceballs." I told him. "I just hope The Garbage Pail Kids Movie will fair a lot better."

"So, let me get this straight, you're actually in a band?" I heard Shane ask Luna from across the table. Our sixteen-year-old rock fanatic for a sister proudly nodded her brown-haired, headband-wearing head.

"You're ding dang right I am!" she stated. "My boyfriend and I made formed together about a year ago with two of our other friends! We call ourselves 'Moon Goats'!"

"You have a boyfriend?" Shiloh asked, sitting next to her left.

"Yep, I sure do," Luna admitted, nodding her head. "His name is Sully. He's the band's synthesizer and electric keyboard player. Trust me, you guys will like him a lot. He's a pretty cool dude—and not to mention that he's just a total babe." Luna leaned back in her chair and gazed up into space, eyes fluttering, cheeks blushing red, and letting out a dreamy sigh. Very quickly, she came back down to Earth, sitting properly again, and clearing her throat.

"So anyway," she went on like nothing happened, "there's also Mazzy. She's the band's drummer. And our fourth member is someone whom I deeply consider to be my closest best friend in possibly the whole wide world. Her name is Sam. She also rocks it out on the electric guitar, and she's pretty darn good at it too. Trust me when I say that you guys will just totally love her. I guarantee it."

If you only knew, Luna, I thought in my head. If you only knew.

"Seriously, you guys have to meet them sometime before you drive back home!" Luna said very eagerly. "In fact, we've got a gig coming up over at Banger's & Mosh this coming Wednesday! No perfect time than ever!"

"That sounds like a fabulous idea," Aunt Sharon agreed before turning to Lance. "What do you think, honey?"

Uncle Lance rubbed his chin for a short moment until he finally looked up and smiled.

"Sure, I'm down for it," he said. "I haven't been to a rock show in ages." Luna shot her arms up in the air.

"Yahoo!" she practically shouted. "You guys won't be disappointed! I promise!"

"Since we're all on the subject of music right now," Lori suddenly piped up, her face riddled with humor. "Did we tell you guys the time when Luna had gone through a pop phase?" From where I was seated, I watched as all forms of happiness disappear from Luna's face within a matter of seconds, and she glanced over at Lori's direction, her widened eyes filling up with overwhelming horror.

"No, I don't believe you have." Shelby replied, looking quite curious.

"Please, do tell us." Shiloh asked, his interest now piqued.

"Oh yeah, it's true!" Leni went on, making it seem like the most exciting thing ever, which I guessed in her naive little mind it was.

"Girls, please no!" Luna groaned aloud as she buried her face in her hands. "Not that! Anything but that!"

"Oh, but she wasn't just into pop music," Luan picked up, smiling very devilishly. "She actually went out of her own way to dress up like a popstar too! She had the glittery pink dress, a large wig with a cute bow on top, the whole enchilada!"

"And you wouldn't believe the amount of purple eyeliner and red lipstick she used!" Lana added. "It was just unbelievable."

"It kind of makes you wonder if she was trying to be like Jem and the Holograms or something!" Lola commented with a teasing giggle.

"Did she even give herself a popstar name?" Aunt Sharon asked curiously. All nine of my sisters nodded at the question.

"Oh, you bet your socks she did, Aunt Sharon," Lynn revealed. "She named her alter ego 'LuLu'!" Everyone around the long table suddenly let out a collected choir of laughter when they heard that. All I did was just snort, grin uncontrollably, and shook my head, feeling more than just a little bad for Luna. I turned to see her, and she appeared like she on the verge of ripping her hair off her scalp.

"I was young, okay?!" our rockstar for a sister tried to reason. "I was an immature little girl trying out new things!"

"That was two years ago," Lucy corrected. The rest of the family continued to laugh, and all that a now fuming Luna could do was just pull her purple headband down over her eyes and then cross her arms over her chest. Uncle Lance and Shane were laughing so hard, their faces were quickly turning red. Sooner or later, everybody had finally calmed down once again. Luna said nothing, frowning even further as she sank deeper into her seat, shaking her head and feeling nothing but humiliation.

Poor girl, I mentally said with pity. Grandpa let out a soft chuckle.

"Ah, don't take it personally, kiddo! We're just having fun with you is all!" he said to his granddaughter, standing up from his seat next to Dad, who after letting out a big and tired yawn, turned to face Uncle Lance.

"Well, Lance. I don't know about you and Sharon, but I think it's about time we head back home." he said.

"Yeah, I think we need to get going too," declared Uncle Lance, as he got up from his seat as well and stretched out his massive arms. "Besides, I've got a whole bunch of calories in my system that are in desperate need of burning right now."

And so, Mom got up and went over to the front counter to grab a small to-go box and she placed the four remaining slices of pizza inside. And with that, we all stood up and arranged the four tables back to their original places, we said our goodbyes to Gus, and then headed outside the front door to our respective vehicles.

"I always thought your pink dress was pretty fabulous, sis," Leni commented innocently to Luna who only grumbled in response.